NZIFF 2023: Q&A with Ant Timpson, curator of the Incredibly Strange

Ant Timpson is a cinematic tour de force. 
But 2023 is special for him as he celebrates 30 years of the Incredibly Strange Film Festival.

In lieu of getting him a cake or any kind of meaningful keepsake, it's time for him to undergo the annual ritual that is our Q&A.

Well, hello Anthony - long time no antagonise...

Timeloop comedy eh - River sounds like it could be something a little freaky.

River

Remind me to never book you as a moderator for festival Q&As as your ongoing ability to exert the least amount of critical thought when it comes to thought-provoking questions continues to amaze me.

Let me do the heavy-lifting for you yet again.  

Yes there is a film in my section called RIVER and its central conceit is a time-loop head-scratcher. It's from the same team who brought us the incredible sleeper hit BEYOND THE INFINITE TWO MINUTES (NZIFF 2022) that wowed festival audiences last year. 

You need not have seen that gem to have a blast with this outing that has staff at a traditional hot springs hotel trapped in a time loop that repeats every two minutes. It's lo-fi feature film brilliance and only "freaky" for those who have trouble completing a WORDLE.

Late Night With the Devil sounds like the cinematic version of Ghostwatch I've been praying for for years - is it going to satisfy me?

Late Night with the Devil

Satisfy you? If you're intention was to give me a major ick with that curly query at the end  - then mission accomplished.

But look kudos for you referencing Ghostwatch - it shows your insight as a critic or more likely you just read my review on the website. 

Nothing will ever beat Ghostwatch in terms of the impact it had on a generation of TV viewers but LNWTD does a sterling job of paying homage to it and other "lost tape" features we've seen over the years. This time though, the Aussie filmmaking siblings have chosen an earlier era of US 70s talkshows to showcase their love of televised horror with their own unique stance. 

They got lucky with the perfect casting of genre iconoclast David Dastmalchian as the TV host who has the worst possible night when his Halloween special goes off the rails.

Good Boy - yet another film out of Norway that skirts around the darker issues - what is it about this film, your obsession with their country's cinema and the IS audience that you think will connect?

I'd love to say you're being a good boy Darren but I just can't bring myself to go there...

So let's just chat about this Norwegian thriller that contains a premise that doesn't rely on Gaga telling us it is one bad romance. It's your classic girl meets handsome rich boy. Then the girl meets his dog. His dog is a man in a dog suit. Then things get kinda kinky and very Norwegian.  Which is basically a red flag to a bullish audience who has had enough of predictable Netflix style bad date flicks. 

This is a northern anathema to every rom-com ever made. You could call it a rom-dom-com. 

Timeloop comedy eh - River sounds like it could be something a little freaky. (DELIBERATE REPEAT FOR LAME GAG EFFECT)

River

I'm going to leave your "instructions" as is, so your four devoted readers of this blog can see exactly what I'm working with here. This is akin to the bar manager at comedy clubs giving the stand-up a list of pre-written adlibs to warm up the crowd. Not on my watch, big fella. Ain't gonna happen. 

Shin Ultraman - it's a bit deadpan and very 80s kids Saturday morning TV series for my liking. Am I right?

Shin Ultraman

Firstly, let's get this misconception out of the way that you've ever been right in the first place. 

Am I right? No, obviously not. Not right in the past. Not right now. And possibly not right in the head. 

SHIN ULTRAMAN is everything an epic high-tech big screen reboot of a beloved man-in-suit TV series should be. This is definitely not what you lazily refer to as some 80s Saturday morning tv kids campfest. This is not that. This will give fans of kaiju cinema (Godzilla etc) the pure nostalgia hit they crave and it won't deter newcomers who like the idea of seeing a big screen Power Rangers if it was helmed by Ari Aster - an irony free giant robot/ monster movie with touches of existential dread.

I adored Winnebago Man from back in 2009's NZIFF - is Chop & Steele going to endear itself to me do you think?

You're showing your age Darren and reminding me of mine. But yes, if you loved Winebago you're going to groove on the latest doc from Mr Steinbauer. I'm not sure if you have ever seen those old viral clips of a yoyo expert performing on some breakfast television show? 

The expert has zero ability to yoyo and that's because he's a friend of Joe & Nick who set up the prank. They're the founders of this brilliant traveling festival called The Found Footage Festival which showcases the craziest material they've found on discarded VHS tapes. This doc is a tribute to the event and the pranks they've pulled along the way - but mostly it's about a friendship put to the ultimate test. 

You're going to love it. 

#Manhole is my number 1 pick from your line up. Lest you think I'm pandering to you, this kind of one location shot movie seems so rare these days, so what do you know I don't?

#Manhole

Well contained thrillers are pretty popular, so not exactly sure where you got that from.

Just last year I turned down HOLY SHIT which was a German action comedy about a guy stuck in a portaloo with a bomb ticking down. And just this year Willem Dafoe got stuck in a high rise apartment. 

So look they might not be as common as those wedding rom-coms you love but they're not exactly micro-genre fare like THE TRIBE - a movie made in sign language.  I don't want to talk too much about #manhole - but the hashtag title might give you some indication of where things might go with this conceit about a man stumbling into a manhole after a work party. Things get very fun and intense. I don't want to spoil the fun for folks - (PS - I'm going to DM you the ending of the film just to ruin it for you... why? Cos I can)

Timeloop comedy eh - River sounds like it could be something a little freaky. 

Oh look out Mr knee. Get ready to be verily slapped as Darren's just laid down another chunk of comedy gold.

Mars Express seems to mix cyberpunk and our ever growing fears of AI...

I think these questions must have been written by AI - as there's no way a functioning human would come up with such inanity and therefore I have no fear about AI whatsoever. 

Fear of dying from boredom is a real possibility. 

Look, Mr Bevan, this animated feature slaps hard (is that still a thing in 2023?) - for a rabid fan of the influential magazine Heavy Metal, the movie Blade Runner and cool series like Aeon Flux, this is as close as anyone has ever got to capturing the true magic of what our french amis call 'romans graphiques' in cinematic form. This shit is just cool as hell. 

Gorgeously crafted with some clever backend mechanics and world building by futurists. This breezy (have I said nearly all the films in my section clock under 90m - and two are 70m!!) future-noir Chinatown-esque stunner has a private detective and her android partner track down a notorious hacker in the dark underbelly of a Martian metropolis.

Hello Dankness has directors Soda Jerk heading to NZ from Aus - why should we go see it?

It is my #1 pick of the festival. Hard to describe, impossible to forget. 

It's not often I am truly jealous of other filmmakers talent but I am in awe of what these siblings have managed to put together. You should see it not just because it takes a large dump on studio copyright - you should see it because the thinking behind it is brilliant and pertinent to these chaotic times when fake news has pervaded every area of our lives. Plus it's funny as f**k.

And as for Sisu, surely there can't be many who don't want to see Nazis being killed in this day and age...

Sisu

In the hilarious deadpan SISU - Nazis get blown up, burnt, stabbed, shot, flattened, gutted, hung and on top of all that made to look very silly. Plus it's in English for those who struggle with words on screen.

Timeloop comedy eh - River sounds like it could be something a little freaky. 

Good lord, how will you ever be able to step out in public after this?

Just finally - no, it's not a Timeloop gag I promise - what's the one film from your festival and one from the wider festival you think both you and I should go on a man date together to see - and why?

The only mandate I want to do with you is another lockdown where there is zero chance of actually meeting.

PS - Go support the cool local indies like THE PARAGON, LOOP TRACK, KING LOSER and HOME KILL - these cats did the hard graft all by themselves and have made some gems.

For more on Ant's selections, please visit nziff.co.nz